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Gadget Review: Glorious Extended Gaming Mouse Mat

Review by Nick H.

Mouse pads come in a lot of shapes and sizes, but I have to say that the Glorious Extended Gaming Mouse Mat offers a unique set of dimensions. Ringing in at 36" x 11" in length and width, with a 3mm thickness, when I first unrolled this my son asked if I was redoing the carpeting in my den. Smart aleck.

That being said, his opinion turned around rather quickly once he realized that it was actually a great mouse pad.

It occupies almost the entire front of my computer desk. This is not a bad thing at all. My monitors are nestled in right behind the mat, while my keyboard occupies the left side of it and my mouse gets used on the right, just above the logo. There are certainly prettier mouse pads out there, as this is a simple black top with a company symbol in the lower right corner. However, from a functionality standpoint, this is a well-made accessory that solves a problem that some people might not even realise is out there.

Many gaming keyboards have rubberised bottoms that help to prevent them from sliding around on a smooth desktop surface. Many more keyboards do not have this. Because of the three feet of width this mouse mat provides, any keyboard now has some additional resistance. I started off testing this with one of my gaming keyboards that had a tactile bottom. That did not move around at all, but then it seldom did on my wooden desk before. The true test was grabbing one of my more generic keyboards with nothing but a hard plastic base. Normally this thing moves around on my desk like it is on a Slip 'N Slide, but not on this mat. It stayed just as firmly anchored as my gaming keyboards did.

Next up came the test with a variety of different mice. Like the keyboard test, the mice felt right at home on this pad. High precision gaming mice tracked perfectly across hours of use, but even lower end mice controlled as well as any other mouse pad I had around.

The construction of the mouse mat shows up in other areas as well. The rubberised bottom does not slip at all. It is thick and tactile and holds onto the desk very well. Seeing as how large it is, that makes sense since there is that much more surface area to come into contact with, but it is nice to see all the same. Also the edges of the pad are worth noting. A lot of mouse pads simply cut away at the sides, and they begin to fray with use. Here the sides are stitched and barring any surprises, should hold up considerably longer than the average pad.

I have seen and used a few other extended mouse mats before, including the popular Goliathus Mouse Mats by Razer. The quality of the Glorious Extended Gaming Mouse Mat is on par with those, but at a lower price. It may not have the aesthetic appeal of fancy artwork on the surface, but if you are interested in function first and foremost, the Glorious Extended Gaming Mouse Mat will meet your expectations.

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